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Re: Looking for a good book on "corporate culture"
Subject:Re: Looking for a good book on "corporate culture" From:Barry Campbell <barry -dot- campbell -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> Date:Sat, 3 Dec 2005 10:42:37 -0500
On 12/3/05, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
> As part of the research for a book I'm writing, I'd like to supplement
> my own knowledge of the workplace with the opinions of other authors on
> the important aspects of corporate culture that the astute editor,
> writer, or technical writer must learn in order to survive and possibly
> even thrive in the modern workplace.
First, here's the best book I've ever read on office politics:
However: to understand the cultural anthropology of the modern office,
you need to understand anthropology in general, preferably with a
smattering of evolutionary psychology thrown into the mix. Human
beings have built and designed some wonderful things, ranging from
flint arrowheads to Michelangelo's David to the Brooklyn Bridge to
particle accelerators, but we're still giant hairless apes with
swollen forebrains, and despite our carefully constructed facades,
that's still how we act much of the time.
And you'll never see a better example of primate dominance hierarchies
than you'll find in most "modern" offices.
Thus, I recommend:
The Naked Ape : A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal
(Good general introduction to practical anthropology)
Author: Desmond Morris
ISBN: 0385334303 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385334303/
The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are
(Good general introduction to evolutionary psychology)
Author: Steven Pinker
ISBN: 0679763996 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679763996/
Time allowing, it's also not a bad idea to brush up on your Von
Clausewitz, Machiavelli and Sun Tzu. A little dose of Hobbes and Kant
wouldn't hurt either.
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